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A court in Moscow has jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny after he organised an unsanctioned anti-corruption demonstration that became the country’s largest in five years.

A Tverskoi district court sentenced Mr Navalny to 15 days’ detention after tens of thousands of people across Russia defied court orders to protest on the heels of a film he made accusing prime minister Dmitry Medvedev of corruption. Police arrested thousands nationwide, including over 1,000 in Moscow alone.

The protests were of a scale unseen since Vladimir Putin announced his return to Russia’s presidency in 2011. Mr Navalny, who is attempting to run for president despite a felony conviction that bars him from holding public office, was jailed for the same term then after taking part in an impromptu protest.